Words of Advice

I have a calendar next to me right now in my bomb shelter of an apartment. It hasn't even been a week since this shit storm started. This nightmare began at 4:45 pm on Tuesday, May 31st, as I was doing my laundry at the Laundry Kingdom in Shirley. There I was, poor English professor, watching my laundry in the dryer, when my phone notification lit up with an email on my Dowling account. The first few minutes were shock. Then I realized, holy shit. . . I have family, friends, students, that have either gone to Dowling, are going to Dowling, or work with me at Dowling. Some Hellfire-fueled, focused demon possessed me and I realized that even though I have seen all kinds of crap in my 40 years on this screwed up planet, I have never seen this.

Shit like this ages you and makes you question a lot, if you didn't question it before. There have been times during the last few days-not even a week that I've second guessed myself and hope I've done better by you than the school administration has. I'm glad there were other professors like me, other staff members like me, who did the same. I'm grateful to them because if they were like me, they were probably scared too and hoped to God we were helping you, and they faced that uncertainty with bravery.

Regardless of where we go from here, I want you guys to succeed. You're probably going to hear a lot of bullshit about the school reopening, that people in power are trying to do right by you, are trying their best. They'll use a lot of fucking words. I like words. I respect them. They are what I use to make a living. But in this case, make for damn sure you look past the words and realize the actions of these men have already branded them. How you brand them is up to you. Just make decisions based on the actions of the men who started this shit storm, not on empty rhetoric. I have had enough of empty rhetoric and so should you.

I swear I wish I could punch someone in the face for you guys to make this all go away. I wish I could fight these motherfuckers in one-on-one trial by combat, one after another, to take over the school and hand it back to the people it belongs to. I can't. All I can do is be scared with you, talk to you, and use the intelligence I have to fix this situation. I'm not telling you I care, I'm showing you. And there are other people here for you and you know where and who they are. Those people care about you and show it.

First and foremost, I'm a writer, and in writing we say show, don't tell. Judge what you see with that in mind. Who's showing you care, and who's telling you they care? In less than a week, you guys got a harsh lesson, but I'm glad I got to see this, if only because you guys taught me what it means to be a better professor, a better human, than I ever would have learned on my own. The world is lucky that people like you exist because each of you make this world a better place. That's what you showed this less-than-a-week. You showed me you were fighters, that the people you align yourselves with will be lucky, and the people who cross your path better best beware. You guys make me proud to be an alumnus of Dowling, and proud to be a professor. I will owe you all forever.

~Mike Imprixis